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Dynamic concept Inflation and yield Monetary policy

Inflation dropping faster

Euro zone inflation eased to 2.4% y/y, compared with over 10% in October last year.  I would say the inflation reduction is not much to do with ECB’s tightening monetary policies, by looking at the time needed to transmit policy rates to the economy.

Interestingly, the medium is using “long transitory” to describe inflation dynamics, a view that I have held (see www.KevinBits.com). I have insisted that the central banks were right in the first place that high inflation was transitory but unfortunately they were unable to communicate to the public that the inflation transition would take a year or two. I think the monetary policies should be normalized from zero bound, but the aggressive tightening was over reacted and unnecessary. 

The mistake seemed to cause huge psychological impact on the monetary policy makers such that they adopted data dependent approach, rather than forward looking strategies for fear of making another mistake and potentially losing their credibility. I wish central bankers had some knowledge of control theory. I remember Janet Yellen and Ben Bernanke talked about optimal control (Pontryagin theory) but never heard anyone else in the banker community talk the same thing.